In 1927, Irving Berlin wrote Puttin’ on the Ritz. In the 90 years since then, this song about style has never fallen out of fashion.

In 2009, I first posted about the fact that Irving Berlin’s Puttin’ on the Ritz has had a dazzling run, not just in American popular culture, but in world popular culture. That is, unlike many older songs that one can find hidden in corners on YouTube, Puttin’ on the Ritz has enjoyed a life extending far beyond amateur musicals and eclectic collectors of old songs. It lives on at the heart of popular culture.

Irving Berlin came to America with his parents and his seven brothers and sisters in 1893, when he was only five. The family settled in New York’s Lower East Side, which at that time was the most densely populated spot in the world.

Life was terribly hard for the family in the New World. Berlin’s father, a cantor (a career that hints at Berlin’s musicality), ended up working for meager pay as a kosher butcher. By the time he was 8, Berlin was on the streets helping out his family by hawking newspapers, although he still attended school sporadically.

When Berlin was 13, his father died. Berlin quit school and, in addition to continuing to sell papers for pennies, became a singing waiter wherever he could find work. Berlin was bathed in the rhythm and vernacular of America’s most dynamic community. Given his innate musical gifts, it should come as no surprise that, within a few years, he had moved on to songwriting.

Berlin managed to eke out a living writing a variety of rather primitive “ethnic” or “dialect” songs. These popular songs relied on stereotypical rhythms and accents from America’s immigrant and black communities. There were Yiddish songs, Black songs, Russian songs, German songs, and Irish songs, to name just a few. All would be offensive today but, in the first decade of the 20th century, they were an important way to integrate various ethnic groups into the vast American melting pot.

In 1911, Berlin had his first major hit, with a Black ethnic song: Alexander’s Ragtime Band. Berlin, with his unique ability to target what Americans wanted to hear, essentially took a march and ragged it up. Here’s the Billy Murray recording that made Irving Berlin a songwriting star. By the way, as you listen, you can easily hear the self-consciously Black dialect Murray affects:

By the 1930s, Alice Faye, with help from Don Ameche and Tyrone Power had erased entirely the song’s ethnic sensibilities. It was now an all-American song, with the lyrics existing as the only remaining hint of its faux black origins:

But I’m getting sidetracked. This is a post about Puttin’ on the Ritz. [Read more…]

My recent post about the best flash mob ever reminded me of a post I did in 2009 about Irving Berlin’s “Puttin’ on the Ritz” a song that lives on and on, around the world. Today seems like a good day to expand upon that post.

Irving Berlin composed “Puttin’ on the Ritz” in 1929. Although he wrote it about blacks in Harlem who dressed up for a night on the town, the American public first saw it in 1930, when Harry Richman sang it with arch “high class” inflections while plump chorines bounced and trotted woodenly behind him:

Fred Astaire also recorded the song in 1930, and his staccato presentation put a lasting imprint on people’s perceptions of the song:

In 1937, Clark Gable, as part of his delightful turn as a two-bit vaudeville player, turned in a wonderfully camp and charming version of the same song. Indeed, this is my favorite version of the song:

By 1946, Fred Astaire once again was “Puttin’ on the Ritz,” this time on film, as opposed to just a sound recording:

Sometime in the late 1950s or early 1960s, the divine Ella Fitzgerald brought her particular brand of music to the song:

In the mid-1970s, Michael Jackson — Michael Jackson! — along with his brothers tackled the song (it starts at about the 1:20 marks):

Also in the 1970s, there was a delightful version of “Puttin’ on the Ritz” in Mel Brooks’ Young Frankenstein. Sadly, I can’t track down any video of that segment.

The 1980s saw Taco’s somewhat boring, and very creepy, un-PC version (complete with black-face performers). As I recall, it was a surprise hit.

In addition, in 1988, The Mighty Diamonds did a reggae version:

“Puttin’ on the Ritz” made an appearance in the 1990s, as the theme music for Nintendo’s Super Hunchback:

Rufus Wainwright, a millennial heart-throb did a version sometime after 2000. If only he could carry a tune…. I recommend no more than 10 seconds of this one. I include it just to show how eternal Irving Berlin is:

More recently, Club des Belugas, a cutting edge NuJazz group in Germany, fired up Puttin’ on the Ritz a few years ago with a remix of Fred Astaire’s 1946 version:

The endlessly cool Herb Alpert did a version last year:

2013 was a good year for “Puttin’ on the Ritz,” since Robbie Williams recorded it too, with the original 1929 lyrics:

And then, of course, there’s the “best flash mob ever” version, from Moscow, in 2012, with love:

How does one account for the enduring, world-wide popularity of this 85-year-old song? I think my teenage son put it best. After watching the flash mob, he turned to me and said, “You know, Mom, that’s a really catchy tune.”

You always read that something is the “best flash mob ever,” and many really do seem to live up to that billing. Orchestras play beautiful music, dancers swirl across the floor, and people break into song as if they’re living in a 1930s Hollywood musical.

This particular flash mob, however, is truly the best one ever. Not only is the performance delightful on its own terms, but its context raises it to amazing new heights of flash mob-ness.

To enjoy it fully, think about these facts before you start watching:

In 1893, five-year-old Israel Isidore Beilin and his family arrived in New York, having escaped the terrible anti-Jewish pogroms in Russia. After surviving (and, indeed, thriving in) a childhood of extreme poverty in New York’s Lower East Side, he grew up to become Irving Berlin, one of the most successful songwriters of all time. He was also a man who never lost his sense of gratitude for the wonders of his adopted country, a sentiment he expressed perfectly in “God Bless America.” He wrote other songs celebrating American life, everything from Easter, to white Christmases, to the wonders of New Yorkers “Puttin’ on the Ritz” (written in 1929, right before the Roaring 20s came to a whimpering end).

In 1917, the Soviets took over Russia, and settled in for a seventy year totalitarian run. America was the enemy and American culture a dangerous weapon that had to be banned from the Soviet Union at all costs.

And then, in February 2012, a young couple got married on a cold day in Moscow and their friends put on a most amazing show for them. Enjoy the show, and don’t forget the history as you watch it.